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4. Rupert Pupkin in "The King of Comedy" (1983)

We may give the BAFTAs flak for a lot of things, but give them this: they were the one major body to notice Scorsese's initially undervalued but ingenious black comedy, as well as De Niro's devastating against-type performance as a desperately stage-hungry aspiring comedian. The brilliance of his Rupert Pupkin lies in how closely he holds his cards to his chest in terms of how talented this apparent putz may or may not be -- he's a surprising character for De Niro from the outset, but he keeps surprising us anyway. It remains a glittering anomaly in his portrait gallery.